Environmental information for sustainable supply chains

Abstract

Sustainable supply chains are nowadays seen as appropriate ways to achieve sustainability in interorganisational business. However, the concept is not widely spread. The aim of this paper is thus to assess ways of achieving sustainable supply chains. Furthermore, we discuss the characteristics and features of sustainable supply chains and investigate the usability of the concept for sustainability issues. An important enabler for supply chains in general, and especially for sustainable supply chains, is information. Thus, the role of information and environmental information in such interorganisational relationships is addressed. After discussing theoretical concepts, an empirical survey of the Austrian production industry is used to illustrate the practical implications of the theoretical findings. The results show that the companies surveyed are currently not aware of the advantages of interorganisational cooperation in supply chains, nor do they fall back on environmental information to carry out cooperation for sustainability.